High performance Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) inertial instruments (accelerometers and gyros) require closed-loop operation. Good performance under vibration requires that the magnitude of the electrostatic feedback force be highly insensitive to the position of the instrument's inertial mass relative to it's null position. Because of their high force dependency on position, the typical electrostatic vertical comb drive as employed in MEMS actuators cannot be applied to precision MEMS inertial instruments. There have been attempts to provide an electrostatic MEMS drive with very low position sensitivity, but they have been costly due to the numerous manufacturing steps required.
Therefore, there exists a need for an electrostatic MEMS drive, which has very low position sensitivity.